St Andrew's School is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

preparatory school in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Buckhold, near

Pangbourne Pangbourne is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, Pangbourne railway station, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a vill ...

, Berkshire, England. Together with its 'Pre-Prep – Early Years' department, the school educates girls and boys aged between three and thirteen. In 2011, there were 266 children at the school, of whom 155 were boys and 111 were girls. The school has a Christian ethos, and its chapel services are reported to be "broadly Anglican in style". The most important religious event of the school year is the Advent Carol Service, which because of the numbers attending is held not at the school but in the larger chapel of nearby Bradfield College. Scholarships are awarded to some children above the age of eleven, based on merit. St Andrew's has a School Council to involve its children in decisions affecting them. In March 2011 an Independent Schools Inspectorate report endorsed the school's success.

History

The school was founded in 1934 as a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

for boys, and consisted of just two staff and eight boys. Historically, as the school grew, boys would leave to go onto schools such as Eton, Harrow and

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, however its ties with these schools slowly deteriorated after it first admitted girls in 1971, going on to become fully co-educational.ISI Report, March 2011
online The school's main building, a listed Victorian

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peop ...

called Buckhold, which was designed by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known ...

in 1885 for

Herbert Watney Herbert Watney (1843–1932) of Buckhold, Pangbourne, Berkshire (now St. Andrew's School) was a nineteenth century London physician, landowner and philanthropist, and a strong supporter of Christian missions. Early life Herbert Watney was born o ...

, is set in fifty-four acres of woods and playing fields.

Catherine, Princess of Wales

The school's most famous alumna is Catherine "Kate" Middleton. Following her family's return to Berkshire from

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...

when she was four years old, Middleton was enrolled at St Andrew's, and she boarded part-weekly at the school in her later years. It was at this school in 1991 that Middleton first saw her future husband, Prince William, when he was part of a

Ludgrove School Ludgrove School is an English independent boys preparatory boarding school. Ludgrove was founded in 1892 at Ludgrove Hall in Middlesex by the Old Etonian sportsman Arthur Dunn. Dunn had been employed as a master at Elstree School, which sent b ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

team that came to play a match at Middleton's school.

The school today

The school has just under 300 pupils. It is co-educational. Its facilities include boarding houses, three science laboratories, music school, art studio and carpentry workshop, and a chapel. Sporting facilities include a 25-metre pool, all-weather astro playing field, sports hall, climbing wall, 9 hole golf course, 3 tennis courts (including one grass court) and rugby/football/cricket/lacrosse pitches.

Notable former pupils

Former students of the school are called "Old St Andrew's", and there is an OSA Association. *

Adrian Liddell Hart Adrian John Liddell Hart (1922–1991) was a British soldier, Royal Navy officer, Liberal politician, author and adventurer. He served briefly in the French Foreign Legion and portrayed it in the 1953 book ''Strange Company''. Early life and car ...

, author and adventurer *

Adam Boulton Thomas Adam Babington Boulton (born 15 February 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster who is regular panelist on TalkTV. He was formerly editor-at-large of Sky News, and presenter of '' All Out Politics'' and ''Week In Review''. He is a ...

, journalist, broadcaster and author *

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

(David Cornwell), spy fiction writer * Sir Howard Hodgkin, artist *

Adam Hart-Davis Adam John Hart-Davis (born 4 July 1943) is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster. He presented the BBC television series '' Local Heroes'' and ''What the Romans Did for Us'', the latter spawning several spin-off ...

, broadcaster * Will Lyons (born 1976), journalist, broadcaster and wine writer *

Catherine, Princess of Wales Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely nex ...

, wife of Prince WilliamSt Andrew's Celebrates the Royal Wedding
at standrewspangbourne.co.uk *

Pippa Middleton Philippa Charlotte Matthews (née Middleton; born 6 September 1983) is an English socialite, author and columnist. She is the younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales. Born in Reading and raised in Bucklebury, Berkshire, Middleton attend ...

, events manager, columnist

Notable staff

* 13th Earl of WestmeathPatrick W. Montague-Smith, ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (Debrett's Peerage Ltd., 1980), p. 200: "William Anthony Nugent, 13th Earl... Assist. Master, St Andrew's Sch., Pangbourne".

Headmasters

* 1934 – 1954: R. W. Robertson-Glasgow * 1934 – 1945: Bill Ward-Clark * 1945 – 1975: Jack Llewellyn-Smith * 1952 – 1970: Rodney Stebbing * 1949 – 1952: Bill Berkley * 1975(?)- 1985: Bill Philipps * 1985 – 1995: Bob Acheson * 1995 – 2009: Jeremy Snow * 2009 – 2015: Dr David Livingstone *2015 – 2021: Jonathan R. Bartlett *2021 - Present: Edward Graham

Notes

External links

Official website

Profile
on the

ISC #REDIRECT ISC {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

website
Independent Schools Inspectorate Report
(March 2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Andrew's School, Pangbourne Independent schools in West Berkshire District Educational institutions established in 1934 1934 establishments in England Boarding schools in Berkshire Preparatory schools in Berkshire Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Oxford Bradfield, Berkshire